Medievalisms

by Tison Pugh, Angela Weisl

From King Arthur and Robin Hood, through to video games and jousting-themed restaurants, medieval culture continues to surround us and has retained a strong influence on literature and culture throughout the ages. This fascinating and illuminating guide is written by two of the leading contemporary scholars of medieval literature, and Making the Past in the Present surveys the critical field and sets the boundaries for future study, providing an essential background for literary study from the medieval period through to the twenty-first century.

Genres: Medievalism, Theory, Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Tison Pugh is Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Central Florida. He is the author of Queering Medieval Genres and Sexuality and Its Queer Discontents in Middle English Literature and has published on children’s literature in such journals as Children’s Literature, The Lion and the Unicorn, and Marvels and Tales.

Reviews

[Sophia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very good place to start.
Each article introduces a new field of research in the scope of Medievalism and really starts at the beginning. They look at different academic aspects and opinions. Great book to start getting into the topic of Medievalism.

[Emilee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Medievalisms is well-written for a variety of audiences. As a graduate student studying medievalism, I found Pugh and Weisl's work both fascinating and helpful, and I can say with assuredness that those not studying medievalism enjoy the read, as I have already lent it out to several people. Pugh and Weisl address the malleability of medievalism and the multi-faceted uses of the Middle Ages (that both undermine and highlight the history). I have found this book immensely helpful in terms of shaping my conference paper (relating to gender, class, and race in our culture), but it would be helpful for almost anyone looking at adaptation theory, retellings of the Middle Ages, or even someone looking at children's literature. The only chapter I found slightly disconnected from the rest of the book was the chapter on transcendence through music and art (Medievalisms in Music and the Arts: Longing for Transcendence). Although there were good points, the writing style seemed choppy and much slower. Overall, though, the book was a wonderful read and I will not only use it in my further work, but also reread for enjoyment's sake!